William c



onnicn.

wiLLjiAM c. HOPBER, or Prr'rsBURG, PENNSYLVANIA,

BENCH-PLANE.

Specification of5 Letters Patent No. 132,234, datedjJ'anuary 1.6, 1855.

To all whomyz'tmay concern e j y vBe it, known that, I. WILLlAM, C- HOHER,... of Pittsburg, in the county of. Allegheny, and State of'Pennsylvania, have' invented a new and useful Improvement in Planes; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being hadto the annexed drawings, forming part of this specication, inwhichf Figure l, is a longitudinal' sectional vthrough the center of the plane; Fig. A2 is a perspective view of the mouth piece of my improved plane. Fig. 3, is a perspective view of a section of my plane through w, fr, in Fig. l, turned up so as to show the underside of the plane, and with the mouth piece removed. Fig. 4:, is a representation of the underside or face of the plane to show the position of the mouth piece.

My invention is especially designed for planes to be used in line work` where greatsmoothness of finish is required, but is also very applicable with great advantage to all kinds of planes, from the smoothing plane to the jack plane.

It consists in so arranging the parts of the plane that the chisel is placed in front of its wedge, and rests against Vthe front shoulder in the cavity of the plane, in coinbination with the use of a mouth piece on the face of the plane in front of the edge of the chisel to serve as a rest for the chisel and to confine the throat of the plane.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improved plane IV` will proceed to explain its construction and operation.

In the drawings a, is the mouth piece which may be constructed of iron, bone, brass, hardwood or other suitable material.

The shape of the mouth piece shown in Fig.'

1, is that which I prefer, but any other shape may be adopted which will accomplish the saine object, as I do not desire to conne my invention to the peculiar shape of mouth piece herein described. The mouth piece is attached to the plane by a screw s, which passes through the plate Y), of the mouth piece. When set in the plane, the surface of the plate b, lies flush with the face of the plane, and rests on three wood screws s', s, s, which are nicely adjusted so as to afford a firm bed for it, parallel to the face of the plane. The mouth piece is of the same width as the chisel or bit c. The two arms d, d, at either side of the mouth piece, prorthat at which the` chiselisto be set.,` These )arms serve as rests fortheend` of the bit c.

ifront Shoulder, against. which it is pressed.,-

byftho Wedge Tho btis .t-hliS holdfirmlr iIi tS pleo@ throughout. its Whololongth, which. prevents it having any spring, and causes it to work much more smoothly. A slight space is left between the points 01 edge of the bit c, and the edge of the face of the mouth piece, sufficient to allow of the passage of the chip or shaving between them into the cavity of the plane; but the mouth piece is so close to the edge of the bit as to prevent the plane ripping or splintering the wood, even in the slightest degree, which would be the case if the plane had an open throat; and this arrangement causes the plane towork so smoothly that it may be used even for planing veneers, which cannot be done at all with safety with any plane of the ordinary construction. My arrangement in combination with the use of a mouth piece also enables me to dispose with the use of a cap or double bit.

By constant use the face of a plane gradually wears away, in which case it will'be necessary to sink the mouth piece lower down in the hole made for its reception. If the mouth piece were sunk down at right angles to the face of the plane, it is evident, that as the bit is set in the plane at an angle of about 45 degrees, the bit as the planewears away would recede from the mouth piece; it would no longer rest against the arms of the mouth piece, and the throat of the plane, through which the shavings pass would become too wide. To remedy this inconvenience and enable the mouth piece to be accurately adjusted to the bit, I adopt the following arrangement: A'Ihe eXtreme edge of the mouth piece is beveled to the same angle as that at which the bit of the plane is set, as will be seen in Fig. l; the corresponding Wall of the recess in which the mouth piece is sunk, (marked f, in Fig. 3,) is also inclined at the same angle. When the plane requires to be refaced, the screw, s, is unscrewed, and the mouth piece is taken out. The adjusting screws, s', s', s', are lowered as much as it 1s desired to sink the mouth piece, and the mouth piece is replaced. Now as the edge of the mouth piece fioot. upward into.' theoarty of; the plane, at the saine-angley to' they face of the plane. asv

iThe bitV or chisel' ifshins'erted'y in theplane iny which rests against the Wall of its recess, as

well as the wall f, itself is beveled, theV mouth piece in sinking into its recess, is

pushed forward toward the bit, just as far as the bit has receded, and their relative position is exactly maintained, so that the sides of the bit will rest as before against the projecting arms of the mouth piece. Thev screw s, is also set into the plane at an angle,

so that it allows for this lateral adjustment of the mouth piece,and avoids thevnecessity of making a new hole for the screw s.

As I remarked before, thel form of the` mouth piece may be varied without altering the principle involved; the simplest form which can be used, is lto screw a plate of metal, countersunk into the face of the plane, immediately infront of the edge of y the bit; but this only partially accomplishes the object of my invention as it does not serve as a rest for the end of the bit, nor is it capable of so easy and accurate adjustment.

Having thus described my improvement v in planes, what I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The constructing of planes with the chisel or bit set in front of its wedge, in combination with the use of a mouth piece, substantially in the manner and for the purposes hereinbefore described.

xwM. o.- HoPPER.

l Witnesses:

' N. B. KENAsTo'N, 1' Wim N. HOWARD. 

